Archive - Hard Refresh

No, the phone-free school movement is not a moral panic

But a little panic is probably the right response to what Big Tech is doing to our kids

Mar 24 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

Just call them. Yes, now.

Social media incentivizes shallow connections over deep listening and real conversation. Make friendship mean something again with a phone call …

Mar 7 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

February 2025

An anti-Valentine's Day weekend roundup

The ghosting of dating apps, opting out of the news doomscroll, trading smartphones for sketchbooks, embracing physical media, and more

Feb 15 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

Opting out of the news-catastrophization industrial complex

Eliminating news from our media diets is the new therapy (and what even is 'the news' anymore?)

Feb 5 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

January 2025

The ways we'll claw back our lives from Big Tech in 2025 , part 2

The return of physical bookstores, the Great Rebuttoning, a boom in phone-free spaces and events, and more

Jan 20 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

2025 Tech Resolutions with Patrick from Hard Refresh

"Where in my life are algorithms determining and manipulating my choices and decisions?"

Published on brave enough • Jan 14

The ways we'll claw back our lives from Big Tech in 2025, part 1

The end of the phone based childhood, "content" becomes passé, dating apps shift to IRL, and more

Jan 9 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

December 2024

Dear Algorithm...

This was the year the Zeitgeist turned on you. Are you OK?

Dec 26, 2024 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

Brain Rot and Blue Skies

2024’s Word of the Year augurs the beginning of the end for legacy social media

Dec 5, 2024 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

November 2024

How I'm limiting my news consumption right now

Election "news" engagement bait is ubiquitous, but it's possible to keep our exposure to a minimum

Nov 2, 2024 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

October 2024

Welcome to Hard Refresh

A newsletter about society's reckoning with peak online and digital saturation — and what comes after

Oct 11, 2024 •

Patrick Sharbaugh

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